White to move and win.
8/4N3/5k2/2r2P2/K7/8/8/3R4 w – – 0 5
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Tricky endgame challenge
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White to move and win.
8/4N3/5k2/2r2P2/K7/8/8/3R4 w – – 0 5
1.Nd5+ Kxf5 2.Kb4 and the rook have no moves.
white knight to G8 perhaps ?
1. Nd5+ Kxf5 (1.. Ke5 2. f6 1-0)
2. Kb4
and white wins the exchange/rook by forking.
1-0
I see only three possible first moves: Re1, Rd7, or Kb4- anything else loses either the knight or the pawn on the next move.
Re1 looks interesting because the most obvious reply by black might not actually draw since the white king manages to reach e4 in the nick of time:
1. Re1 Re5
2. Re5 Ke5
3. Kb5 Kf6
4. Kc5 Ke7
5. Kd5 Kf6
6. Ke4 Kg7
7. Ke5 Kf7
8. f6 Kf8
9. Ke6 Ke8
10.f7 Kf8 = So this does appear to draw for black (I don’t see a forced win for white in this line, but I sometimes miss the most obvious things in king pawn endgames).
For white to win this, the pawn needs to be protected by the knight and the knight needs to be protected by the King. The white rook can then annoy the black King by constantly making him move around and get out of the way so that the white pawn can promote to a Queen.
Notice that the black rook has to be extra careful because it has few squares to safely go to if, let’s say, white plays 1. Kb4.
But a better line for white, I think, is to play 1. Nd5. For example,
1. Nd5+ Kxf5?
2. Kb4! and black’s rook gets forked on white’s next move with a Knight double check.
So black should instead play,
1. Nd5+ Kf7
2. Kb4 Rc2 (to stop white’s King from crossing the C column)
3. f6 (the pawn is now protected by the Knight, so the white rook can start checking the black king on the 7th and 8th rank. If the black rook decides to attack the knight, the White King can just move next to the knight to support it.)
That’s how white can with this, in my opinion.
Continuing:
1. Rd7 Re5
2. Kb5 Re7
3. Re7 Ke7
4. Kc5 Kf6 =
Looked at this for a while, and I just don’t see anything in this line better for white- any knight move on the second move drops the pawn.
Continuing:
1. Kb4 Re5
2. Rd6 Ke7
3. Re6 Re6
4. fe6 Ke6=
So, my initial thinking seems to be wrong. There is another first move for white I haven’t considered possible.
I think the first move is to attack the Rook with the King.
Reggie Sharpe.
1. Nd5+ Ke5 (..Kxf5 2 Kb4 wins the rook) 2. f6 and the knight is immune
Don’t have the free time to calculate beyond this point, but white should be able to make progress.
Think the trick is 1.Nd5 if Kf6 then Kb4 wins the rook. If 1…Ke5 then 2.f6 Rc8 3. Nb6 Rh8 4. Rf1 Ke6 5. Kb5 Rf8 6. Re1 Kf7 7. Nd7 and wins
@Yancey Ward:
It is another move.
I found it with a programm,
so I cannot post it here
what about Knight to d5!! I haven’t figured it out yet, but here’s the key, I dont’ think black can take the pawn cause then Kb4! and the black rook is trapped, but i don’t know the variations if black does not take the pawn 🙁
i got it!
1. Nd5+ Ke5
2. f6 Ke6
3. Kb4 Rc8
4. Rd3 Rc1
5. Rc3 Rd1
6. Rf3 Rd4+
7. Kc3 Ra4
8. Rf2 Kf7
9. Re2 Ra6
10. Kd4 Kf8
11. Rb2 Re6
12. Rb7 Kg8
13. Rb8+ Kf7
14. Rc8 Ra6
15. Rc7+ Kf8
16. Ke5 Ra5
17. Rg7 Rc5
18. Kd6 Rc1
19. Nf4 Rd1+
20. Kc5 Rc1+
21. Kb4 Rb1+
22. Kc3 Ke8
23. f7+ Ke7
24. Ng6+ Ke6
25. f8=Q Rc1+
26. Kd2 Rc4
27. Re7+ Kd6
28. Qd8+ Kc6
29. Rc7+ Kb5
30. Qb8+ Ka4
31. Ra7# 1-0
guys knightd5 check is the 1st move if king take pawn then it is blunder. cause of kb4 then the rook is lost =p. right susan???
nd5, kxf5
kb4 with n fork coming
h
Nd5! if black takes the pawn then he has ot give up the rook
( thanks to Yancey ward for elimination the ohter obvious ones.)
Is it Rd5?
How about 1nd5+ kf5 2 Kb4?
Where does the rook go?
All squares are covered directly or by fork.
If black doesn’t play 1.. Kf5,
2 f6 wins easily.
I think I found it! (without an engine)
1. Nd5+ Kxf5
2. Kb4! wins the rook
Only one winning move for white is Nd5. If black king takes the pawn, white follows Kb4 and black Rook is trapped, white wins…
ugh, nvm Rd5 fails quickly
1. Nd5 looks good
If black takes the pawn
Kb4 wins the rook (with a knight check)
So 1..Ke4 and the pawn can go forward.
2. f6
THat might be only the begin
LOL! Only thing left is the seemingly impossible. Can the rook be trapped? Yes, it appears!!
1. Nd5 Kf5
2. Kb4 and where can the rook go where it isn’t either taken by the knight or the white rook, or isn’t forked on the next move?
Honestly, I should have seen this earlier, but I am often blind to knight moves, even those of my own knight.
Nothing made sense here, so I started looking at moves that seemed silly. One of them turned out to be very far from that.
1. Nd5+ and now 1…K:f5 loses the R for a N, since the R has nowhere to go where it cannot be captured either directly or via a N fork.
So the K has to move. Now 2. f6 followed by bringing the K into the game looks like it might win. (1… Ke5 2. f6 R:d5 3. R:d5+ K:d5 4. f7 and wins.)
I am way too tired to work this through to the end, but I strongly suspect that 1. Nd5 is the main idea.
I am glad I had this puzzle – I jotted it down on a piece of paper and spent the better part of a 1600 mile flight staring at it.
So I think I have found the best idea, but my flag has fallen.
A beautiful position. Nd5+! Kxf5 Kb4!
hey guys took me like 2 hrs.
[Event “”]
[Site “”]
[Date “4-6-2010”]
[Round “”]
[White “Chessmaster”]
[Black “Chessmaster”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “oft “]
1. Nd5+ Ke5
2. f6 Ke6
3. Kb4 Rc8
4. Rd3 Rc1
5. Rc3 Rd1
6. Rf3 Rd4+
7. Kc3 Ra4
8. Rf2 Kf7
9. Re2 Ra6
10. Kd4 Kf8
11. Rb2 Re6
12. Rb7 Kg8
13. Rb8+ Kf7
14. Rc8 Ra6
15. Rc7+ Kf8
16. Ke5 Ra5
17. Ke6 Ra6+
18. Kf5 Ra1
19. Nf4 Rf1
20. Rb7 Kg8
21. Ke4 Re1+
22. Kd3 Rd1+
23. Kc3 Rc1+
24. Kd2 Rg1
25. f7+ Kg7
26. Ne6+ Kf6
27. f8=Q+ Ke5
28. Rb5+ Kxe6
29. Qh6+ Rg6
30. Qxg6+ Kd7
31. Rb7+ Kc8
32. Qh7 Kd8
33. Rb8# 1-0